...and I don't know how I feel, really. Mugglenet has announced that they're closing the Chamber of Secrets forums this summer, probably some time in July, due to inactivity. The nostalgic part of me is all, "Awww..." COS forums were the first internet home I ever had in the Potter fandom, and, like Jo Rowling's three abandoned boys, I'll always have a soft spot for the way it was when I first discovered it. As a long-suffering Snape-fan, I of course encountered a lot of the same tired old finger-wagging, soap-boxing, "you aren't supposed to love that character, you aren't, he's mean and he threatened to poison a toad, don't you know that?!" crap on the COS boards as I did everywhere else, but I still enjoyed them, because back then you were allowed to, you know, actually argue a point and defend your position and still stay cool with pretty much everyone.

And then they got all...banny and shit. No more ship-talk, none. No theories involving a certain black-haired teacher and a certain red-haired corpse - too hot, can't touch. And after the post-DH Snape backlash, forget even trying to have an actual rational discussion with anyone regarding Professor Greasy McSnarksalot, because radical sentiments such as "See, Snape's not so bad" could get you banned for being a "worshipper." I don't think I've posted anything there in five or six years, and I haven't even visited in over a year. I know I'm far from the only Snape fan who felt unwelcome there; as far as I know, a lot of other fans of other polarizing characters (Ginny, Dumbledore, the Marauders) perhaps felt the same.

So, yeah, I'm torn. The Lily-loving, Order-serving, bravest-man-you-ever-knew part of me is quite sad. But the vindictive toad-poisoner in me can't help but think, "What goes around comes around."

Seriously. I know it means nothing - show dumps its soundtrack into iTunes after every episode, fans download, and this for some reason counts as a bunch of Billboard "hits" - but it's still a joke. When did Billboard become so irrelevant?